ما كف شاديه اعتراض عتابه — Al Sari Al Raffa

ما كفَّ شادِيَهُ اعتراضُ عتابِه

بل زادَه طرباً إلى أطرابِه

The interruption of his reproach did not silence his singer;

Rather, it added rapture to his raptures.

وأرى الصبابةَ إرْبةً لو لم يَشُبْ

يوماً حلاوتَها الفراقُ بصَابِه

And I would deem passionate love desirable, had not

Parting one day mixed its sweetness with its bitter sap.

هو موقِفٌ برَزتْ بُدورُ خيامهِ

للبَينِ واعترضتْ شموسُ قِبابِه

It is a stopping-place where the full moons of its tents emerged

For departure, and the suns of its pavilions came into view.

راحوا بمثلِ الرِّيمِ لولا ما أرى

من وَشْيِه وشُنوفِه وخِضابِه

They departed with one like a white gazelle, but for what I see

Of his embroidery, his earrings, and his dye.

مُترَدِّدٌ في الجَفْنِ ماءُ شُؤُونِه

متحدِّرٌ في الخَدِّ ماءُ شَبابِه

The water of his tear ducts wavers in his eyelid;

The water of his youth streams down his cheek.

يهتزُّ غُصْنُ البانِ تحتَ ثيابِه

ويُضئُ بدرُ اللَّيلِ تحتَ نِقابِه

A bān-tree bough sways beneath his clothes,

And the full moon of night shines beneath his veil.

فالحُسْنُ ما يُخْفيهِ من تُفَّاحِه

خَفَراً وما يُبْديه من عُنَّابِه

So beauty lies in the apples he hides

Out of modesty, and the jujubes he reveals.

أَيعودُ أَيَّتُها الخيامُ زمانُنا

أَم لا سبيلَ إليه بعدَ ذَهابِه

Will our time return, O tents,

Or is there no way to it after its passing?

أيامَ أدفعُ عتبَه بعِتابِه

عني وأمزُجُ كأسَه برُضابِه

Those days when I turned his reproach, by reproaching him,

Away from me, and mixed his cup with the moisture of his lips.

فسقاكِ ساقي المُزْنِ أعذبَ صَوبِه

وحَباكِ مُذْهِبُ غَيمِه بذَهابِه

So may the waterer of rainclouds give you his sweetest rainfall,

And may the disperser of his clouds grant you his showers.

نزعَ الوُشاةُ لنا بسَهْمِ قطيعَةٍ

تُرمى بسهمِ قطيعةٍ تَرمي بِه

The tale-bearers drew against us an arrow of estrangement—

You are shot with the arrow of estrangement that you shoot.

ليتَ الزَّمانَ أصابَ حَبَّ قلوبِهم

بقنا ابنِ عبد الله أو بِحرابِه

Would that Time had struck the very cores of their hearts

With the lances of Ibn Abd Allah, or his javelins.

بسلاحِ مُعتَلِّ السِّلاحِ وإنما

يعتلُّ بين طِعانِه وضِرابِه

With the weapons of one whose weapons are ailing—and they only

Fall ill amid his thrusts and blows.

ألوى إذا استلبَ المغاورُ بَزَّه

كانت نفوسُ الصيِّدِ من أسلابِه

A fierce warrior: when a raider seizes his prize of armor,

The lives of proud chiefs are among his spoils.

ظَلَمَ التليدَ وليس من أعدائِه

وحبا الحسودَ وليس من أحبابِه

He wronged his ancestral wealth, though it was not among his enemies,

And gave to the envious man, though he was not among his friends.

فالغيثُ يخجَلُ أن يلِمَّ بأرضِه

والليثُ يَفرَقُ أن يُطيفَ ببابِه

So the rain is ashamed to visit his land,

And the lion fears to prowl about his door.

يغشى القِراعَ وينثني وسماتُه

في غَرْبِ مُنصُلِه وفي جِلبابِه

He enters the clash and returns, its marks

On the edge of his blade and on his cloak.

كالليثِ آثارُ اللقاء مُبيَّنَةٌ

في لِبدَتَيْهِ وفي شَبا أنيابِه

Like a lion, with the traces of combat plainly shown

On his two mane-tufts and on the tips of his fangs.

عَلِمَتْ ملوكُ الرومِ أنَّ حياتَها

ومماتَها في عَفوِه وعِقابِه

The kings of the Romans knew that their life

And their death lay in his pardon and his punishment.

في كلِّ عامٍ غزوةٌ يَقضي بها

أَرَبَ القَنا وينالُ من آرابِه

Each year brings a raid through which he fulfills

The lances' desire and attains some of his aims.

أوفى فسدَّ شِعابَهم بعَرَمْرَمٍ

يغشى الفضاءَ الرَّحْبَ سَيلُ عُبابِه

He advanced and blocked their passes with a vast army,

Its surging flood sweeping over the broad expanse.

كالطَّوْدِ لا تَثْنيهِ عن مُتمنِّعٍ

حتى يَدُقَّ رقابَه برقابِه

Like a mountain—you cannot turn it from a defiant foe

Until it crushes the foe's necks with its own.

تُزْجي المَنُونَ جيادُه مخزومةً

بالحَزمِ أو يُحْدَى الرَّدى بركابِه

His steeds drive Death onward, nose-ringed

By resolve, or doom is urged onward by his riding camels.

حتى تفسَّحَ في مجالسِ قَيصَرٍ

متحكِّماً في تاجِه ونهابِه

Until he sat at ease in Caesar's councils,

Holding sway over his crown and his plunder.

اللهُ جرَّدَ من عليٍّ سَيفَه

فحمى وذَبَّ عن الهُدى بذُبابِه

God unsheathed His sword in Ali,

And so guarded and defended guidance with its point.

قَوْلِي إذا ضاقت عليَّ مذاهبي

من لي برَحْبِ العيشِ بينَ رِحابِه

My words, when my paths close in upon me, are:

Who will grant me ample living amid his spacious courts?

فارقتُ مشربَه الذي لا تنطفي

غُلَلُ الحَشا إلا ببَردِ شَرابِه

I left his watering-place, where there is no quenching

Of the heart's thirsts except by the coolness of his drink.

ودخلتُ أبوابَ الندامةِ بعدَما

عصفَت بيَ الأحداثُ عن أبوابِه

And I entered the gates of regret, after

Misfortunes swept me away from his gates.

هي زَلَّةُ الرأي التي نَكصَ الغِنَى

من سُوءٍ عُقباه على أعقابِه

It was a slip of judgment: wealth recoiled

Because of its evil outcome, back upon its heels.

فوحَقِّ نِعمَتِه عليَّ وطَوْلِه

قسَماً يقول السامعون كفى بِه

So, by the right of his favor to me and his bounty—

An oath the listeners say is enough—

ما سَوَّلَتْ لي النَّفسُ هجرَ جَنابِه

عند الرحيل ولا اجتنابَ جِنابِه

My soul did not entice me to forsake his precincts

At departure, nor to shun his precincts.

أنَّى وقد نِلتُ السماءَ بقُرْبِه

وبلغْتُ قاصيةَ المُنى بثَوابِه

How could it, when I reached the sky through nearness to him,

And attained the farthest reach of desire through his rewards?

وحَوَيتُ فضلَ المالِ من إفضالِه

ومحاسنَ الآدابِ من آدابِه

And gained abundant wealth from his generosity,

And the beauties of refinement from his refinement.

وسحبت برد الكبرياء مفوفا

بالعجب لما صرت من طلابه

And I trailed the mantle of grandeur, striped

With self-admiration, when I became one of his petitioners.

لكنَّه رأيٌ حُرِمْتُ رَشادَهُ

وبَعُدْتُ عن تسديدهِ وصَوابِه

But it was a decision whose sound guidance I was denied,

And I was far from its right direction and correctness.

لا أحمَدُ الأيامَ بَعْدَ بَتاتِها

سبباً وصلتُ إليه من أسبابه

I do not praise the days after they severed

One of his bonds by which I had reached him.

أأقومُ بين يَدَي سواه مؤمِّلاً

وأُنيخُ راحلةَ الرَّجاءِ ببابِه

Shall I stand before another, hoping,

And make the riding-camel of hope kneel at his door?

هيهاتَ لستُ بشائمٍ برقَ امرئٍ

حتى يكونَ سَحابُهُ كَسَحَابِه

Far from it! I do not watch any man's lightning

Until his cloud is like my patron's cloud.

سَأهُزُّ بالكِلَمِ المُهذَّبِ عِطفَه

طَرَباً وأخلُبُ لبَّه بخلابِه

I shall stir his side with polished words,

To rapture, and captivate his mind with their enchantment.

بِدَعٌ لو أنَّ الصَّبَّ يستَشفي بها

ألمَ الفِراقِ شَفَتْه من أوصابِه

Marvels—if the love-stricken sought through them a cure

For parting's pain, they would heal him of his ailments.

وأحشُّها والليلُ قد سترَ الرُّبا

بدُجاه أو حَجَبَ الصُّوى بِحجابِه

And I stoke them while night has covered the hills

With its darkness, or veiled the waymarks with its veil.

حتى يعودَ الشَرْقَ لابسَ حُلَّةٍ

من أرجوانِ الفَجرِ أو زِريابِه

Until the east returns wearing a robe

Of dawn's crimson or its gold.

فعسى الزَّمانُ يَبُلُّ حَرَّ جوانحي

بصَفاءِ مَوِرِدِه وبَردِ حَبَابِه

So may Time quench the heat within my ribs

With the purity of his watering-place and the coolness of its bubbles.

فأفوزَ بالعَذْبِ النَّميرِ وينطوي

كَشْحُ الحسودِ على أليمِ عَذابِه

So I may gain sweet, wholesome water, while folded lies

The envious man's flank upon his painful torment.